Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics - as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies.

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Publisher's Summary

Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics - as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies.

What the Critics Say

"An accessible introduction to the science of evolutionary psychology and how it explains many aspects of human nature. Unlike many books on the topic,which focus on abstractions like kin selection, this book focuses on Darwinian explanations of why we are the way we are--emotionally and morally. Wright deals particularly well with explaining the reasons for the stereotypical dynamics of the three big "S's:" sex, siblings, and society." (Amazon.com review)

Robert Wright's 'The Moral Animal' is a phenomenal look at the science of evolutionary psychology, using Darwin's own life (and his published and unpublished writings) to organize and explain various ev. psych topics like: marriage, families, society and social status, and morality.

It all tends to fit into Wright's 'big thesis' on non-zero sum relationships. If you haven't read Wright's 'NonZero', or 'Evolution of God', go pick those two up after you read/listen to this one. They are all fantastic.

Greg Thorton does a good job of narrating this masterpiece of science writing.

The Moral Animal is THE book on evolutionary psychology. Robert Wright applies a straightforward game-theoretic analysis to theorize how natural selection shaped human psychology, and gets remarkably penetrating insights into human nature.

I feel like I am seeing human nature laid bare. I find myself shaking my head in awe, because after I hear Wright's characterization of some social dynamic, it seems so clear obvious in retrospect that I can't believe it's not common knowledge.

I also love the way Wright applies the principles of evolutionary psychology to analyze episodes in Darwin's life. Wright's Darwinian understanding of human nature enriches the book's view into Darwin's life.

This is one of the best books in the entire Audible collection. A must-listen.

This book was written in 1994, and its underlying philosophy holds true today, even if a few other theories on evolutionary psychology have eclipsed what Wright has written here. (Just as what Charles Darwin has written is still powerful despite the work that has been done after his death, interestingly.) For those of us who are atheists, a book like the Moral Animal becomes extremely important because it shows that morality does not need to come from a deity, and instead likely comes out of our own interest in passing our genes to the next generation. Although I personally feel that at least some morality need not come out of clinical self-interest. Nor does it always need to be explained. The Moral Animal along with Wright's latest book, The Evolution of God, have, inadvertently or tangentially, done more for the cause of atheists than any works before, during or since.

This is a profoundly insightful book that explores the inner evolutionary workings of the human being in regard to what we term moral behavior, particularly in the sexual realm, as Wright sees the reproductive urges and needs of the male and female animal as being perhaps the greatest inner (and thus often highly subconscious) motivators of almost all "moral/immoral" behavior and views them as the very source of the need for moral systems to start with. A fascinating read and a great introduction to the growing realm of evolutionary psychology.

It may be the case, that any first book I were to read about the new Darwinian Paradigm would change my life - but the fact is that I read this one.
Wright's delivery is comprehensive, powerful, razor sharp, enjoyable, challenging, insightful, inspired and inspiring.
Truly a work that will go down in history as a herald of morality's future.

Evolutionary Psychology was a new topic for me and I found the presentation to be interesting and understandable. The last part of the book, where the author attempts to deal with the moral/ethical issues raised in the first part, was not nearly as interesting to me as the 1st part.
There were 2 aspects of this book that made it memorable. First is the excellent narration. This is the first book that has prompted me to look for others by the same narrator, and sadly there is only one. Greg Thornton has a pleasant voice with a slight accent. It reminds me of Ray Romano's voice. And the delivery helped to keep my attention from wandering (as sometimes happens with audiobooks) without being overdone or distracting.
Secondly, the author's frequent use of material from the life of Charles Darwin to illustrate the material he was presenting was a bonus. I never expected to find a biography of Darwin embedded in this book.

Robert Wright’s Moral Animal (1995) is not one of the new books on the topic of evolutionary psychology, but it is a start. Here Wright explains thinking associated with evolutionary psychology and links it to the life and teachings of Charles Darwin. The book is thought provoking and gently takes the reader into this relatively new psychological perspective. Wright’s consideration of kin-related altruism was of particular interest to me. For my taste, however, Wright spends more time on Darwin’s biography than on introducing evolutionary psychology per se. I will look further to learn more. Greg Thornton's reading is a plus.

While I may surely agree with the overall premise of this text I find the exposition nothing more than verbal mish-mash. The author goes from totally unintelligible pseudo academic contrivance to the most common conversational non-sense,Much of the text is devoted to the life of Darwin, There are no small number of bios that deal with Darwin's life in a more scholarly fashion.The rest of the text is sheer babble.The narrator's voice recalls a comic from my childhood who played a scholar that babbled fancy words that meant nothing.

Robert Wright emboldens Darwin’s theory of evolution in “The Moral Animal”. Wright argues that Darwin infers evolution is biological, an all-inclusive generative theory. Not only is humankind evolving physically through natural selection, it is evolving psychologically.

Wright suggests Freud was on to something in the idea of id, ego, and superego. Wright endorses Freud’s suggestion of homo sapient need for social interaction and human’ libidinous thought and action. However, Wright believes Freud took the idea too far when suggesting humans have a death instinct or Oedipus complex. Neither a death instinct nor Oedipus complex makes sense in an evolutionary world where replication of life is the essence of being.

In summary, like Richard Dawkins, Robert Wright is saying human beings are only replicating machines; without God; without free will, and dependent upon the arbitrariness of natural selection.

The book is a Darwinian slant on Darwin the man and its new paradigm (evolutionary psychology). I only started to fully appreciate this book after I realized it was not a science book for non-scientist, but rather a philosophy book for non-philosophers.

The author coherently ties together through an overriding narrative on our human psychology and moral development. While I've listened to most of the more recent books on the same topic from various authors (Dawkins, Diamond, Pinker, Gazzaniga, Wilson,Kahneman, and Ridley) available on Audible, none of them tied together the story as well as this book and make you feel the philosophical implications of the theory of evolutionary psychology.

The book is dated (copyright 1994) but not out of date. Most of the stories told in the book I've heard versions of them in the more recent books. That's not a fault of the book. It's just that I read this book (in 2012) after having read the other books.

I enjoyed this book so much that after listening I started listening to his other book, "Nonzero".

Warning: this book has the ability to make you reassess you place in the universe and become more interested in philosophy. Enjoy.

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